'Fake News' Doesn't Change Elections, and Liberals Know It

The hidden takeaway from a Boston Globe exposé of a liberal fake news kingpin: "we're not changing elections."

All the Sturm und Drang surrounding the latest spasm of "fake news" mania as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg admitted "a huge mistake" in the way his company packages and sells data ignores a key point. This point tends to be overlooked by liberals in their narrative about how media influences elections.

It's not the fake news that sways the electorate, it's the main stream media. Fake news peers around the edges of influence, digging into the paranoid, conspiracy-loving side of human nature. But main stream media plays to the same music. The hidden takeaway from a Boston Globe exposé of Christopher Blair, who the Globe describes as a "hard-core Democrat," is that fake news doesn't change elections.

“We’re not changing elections,” Blair argues. “We’re not pushing some 70-year-old who’s been sitting on a fence watching Fox News over to the dark side. We’re trolling conservative low-hanging fruit and having them removed from Facebook. You post nonsense, they respond, you and your friends make them look foolish.“

The other takeaway is that publishing fake news doesn't often make millionaires--at least not a two-man operation run from rural Maine.

What it does do, is erode confidence in the manner and content of so-called "real" news outlets. I write "so-called" because the line between hard journalism and social activism has been crossed so many times in the past decade it's really difficult to even find the line anymore. Since Dan Rather went for the Bush memo in 2004, and in the haymaking days of the Obama administration, when White House talking points were regularly read and verbatim as fact, the American public has a hard time knowing who--or what--to believe.

The Russians know this, and spend liberally (pun intended) on both sides of the political spectrum to further erode our confidence in separating fact from fiction.

But none of that affects elections. Donald Trump won the presidency in large part because Americans were fed up with liberal activists occupying and claiming ownership of every major institution in America. The academy (that's "universities" for the unwashed fly-over country folk), big science, entertainment, high tech and banking had become liberal enclaves vigorously protected from any diversity of thought.

Erick Erickson's "you will be made to care" became truth in that the electorate decided to care, and push back in the most spectacular way they could. They punished political and establishment organs by choosing a 900 decibel mouth to project their objections.

In the midst of this, a thousand small cottage industries flourished in the tide of trolling from both sides. One of the reasons I originally came on board The Resurgent is because Erick told me there would be no comment section to troll. We soon found out that a comment section drives traffic because people like to read and respond to trolls.

I would even say that this is a desirable aspect of American political engagement (that doesn't mean I enjoy reading the comments). It's ugly but so are some people's relatives, but it doesn't mean they aren't loved by their family. Trolling, "fake news" and ugly political talk is part and parcel of what makes America great.

The main stream media would love to ban the comment section. They'd love to censor the news to only the things they think aren't "fake," which typically includes all the pet activist projects the left adores. But in the end, Americans make election decisions based on their own beliefs, not on sensational conspiracy stories. In 2016, we all knew who Hillary Clinton was and what she believed and did. Fake news didn't change that.

We all knew who Donald Trump was and what he believes. He won because of what we knew, not because of fake news. The liberals are only helping the Russians in their goal to destabilized America into a censored state where nobody believes the "official" outlets when they pursue this purge of "fakeness" from our news.

And if they simply listened to Christopher Blair, the liberal troll fake news kingpin, they'd realize they knew it all along.

Pizzaman a part of our problem, and you may be aware, half the adults in the US have a literacy level at or below that of the average 8th grade student. These folks have difficulty digesting most written communication and verbal comment. They can and do absorb "sound-bites" and make decisions on that basis. Yes, I have family members who will do no research on issues or listen to a discussion about those issues. They have always been Democrats and always will be; according to them!

Calif2

Apr 9

Fake news is not exclusive, I hear liberals tell me what the evil trump is doing and when I look into it I find it is not true. While I did not vote for him he is not as evil as some make him to be. So this left fervor over fake news is just another way to discredit alternatives to the left standard media outlets.

Merrie_Soltis

Editor

Apr 9

I am going to respectfully disagree with you here. The absolute ignorance of some Republican voters absolutely astounded me in 2016. I found myself explaining to members of my own family that NO, Obama was NOT moving to Dubai after the election, Michelle Obama was not a transvestite and New York did not just institute Sharia law.

NWRED

Apr 9

Fake news and fake polling is not the problem. As news stories go it is more about covering or not covering the story. The real impact on elections are the courts with their forced remapping of legislative districts. The second problem is voting registration is on the honor system.. You have to catch the non=citizen providing false information and/or actually voting. There is no way to get the correct numbers. All drivers need a drivers license, but should be marked for voter eligibility. The , "Motor Voter Act" allowed for provisional ballots, ballots to be kept separate uni ll A special card will be needed for non-drivers some questions are answered. Once mingled with other ballots, too late. Citizenship should be required in all states, because of the impact on congress and the electoral college.

MarkBerwind

Apr 9

I think the hidden takeaway from the left is" We have now been exposed, long enough for it to stick, and we are having to defend our actions." In other words, they will deny away everything.